Minnewaska Area Middle School Tours CVEC

Burnsville, May 20 - Forty-five students from Minnewaska Area Middle School's ag processing class toured Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company (CVEC) in Benson yesterday.

During the tour, the students learned about the various stages of ethanol production such as incoming grain grading and handling, fermentation, ethanol shipment, dried distillers grains with solubles production and shipment as well as an overview of Minnesota's ethanol industry.

"It was a pleasure to welcome students from Minnewaska Area Middle School's Ag Processing class. We're proud to be celebrating 30 years of processing local corn into an efficient, high octane, renewable fuel (and co-products) which drives investments in rural communities, lowers greenhouse gas emissions, lowers prices at the pump and reduces our reliance on foreign oil," said Chad Friese, CEO of CVEC.

The students that participated in the tour were eight graders. The tour was organized by the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association (MN Bio-Fuels). CVEC is a member of MN Bio-Fuels.

Tiffany Kobberman, agriculture instructor at Minnewaska Area Middle School, joined her students for the tour.

"Today, my students were able to create a connection between the corn grown by their own families and community members as a commodity in high demand utilized to make ethanol close to home. Students also learned that corn can be made into other products besides ethanol at the plant. Finally, my students learned about the importance of farmers diversifying and selling corn to produce ethanol to the fuel industry with the surplus of corn in our area for feed," she said.